September 9, 2007

Peder Moos, Peder Moos Cribs Don't Do The Fandango

Master cabinetmaker Peter Moos was known to Swedish historians of Danish 20th century furniture techniques [pdf] for his use of exceedingly fine, even decorative, joinery. But that's about as much as I can turn up on the guy. That, and he made some nice tables.

But in 1937-8, when he was just 31, Moos also made some sweet cribs for his newborn son Gerd. The spindles on the oak crib on the right are too wide to meet today's safety standards, but otherwise, it looks incredibly fresh. The oak and teak toddler bed, meanwhile, is actually inscribed, "To Gerd, May-Jun 1938, from Mom & Dad," to celebrate the graduation to the big boy bed.

Papa Moos died in 1991, and I guess in Denmark, D+15 years is an appropriate time to sell the heirlooms, because the Moos family put the beds up at auction last fall. I couldn't find the crib result, but the bed sold for just 4,000 kroner, $US735. [The estimate had even been lowered from 8-10k in the catalog [pdf] to 6-8k at the time of the auction. Moos's market is apparently not quite as deep as some of his fellow Danish masters, I guess.]